Course Descriptions

Anthropology is the study of humans. Anthropology is the only discipline that seeks to understand all aspects of human life, including past and present social and cultural processes and biological adaptations. It does so by focusing on human variation in time and space, with four traditionally recognized sub-disciplines: archaeology, physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. As a consequence of its broad focus, anthropology is also an integrative discipline that brings together scholarly work in the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences.

Cultural Anthropology deals with the social lives of people around the world, including our own society: economic systems, legal practices, kinship, religions, medical practices, folklore, arts and political systems, as well as the interrelationship of these systems in environmental adaptation and social change.

Archaeology focuses on the material remains of human societies from the remote and recent past with emphasis on reconstructing and understanding past modes of human cultural adaptation and change.

Physical Anthropology describes and compares world human biology. The focus is on humans and their primate order, seeking to document and understand the interplay of culture and biology in the course of human evolution and adaptation.

Linguistics deals with varied aspects of human language and the characteristics of nonhuman communication systems, to achieve an understanding of past and present human language systems and their significance in social life.

Communication is fundamental to all human endeavors. The communication major studies the ways humans use communication to shape identity and ideas. Graduates will transfer with both an understanding of important communication theory as well as demonstrated proficiency in communication skills. Communication studies majors will explore a variety of communication contexts, from intimate relationships, to public address, to new and emergent media, exploring the many ways communication shapes our identities and our realities.

Communication skills are essential in both work and social settings. Oral and written communication skills are at the top of the list of qualities that employers look for in job candidates. Career opportunities for the program graduate includes the following careers: Advertising Executive, Business Executive, Communication Specialist, Consultant, Employee Relations Representative, Film Editor, Human Resource Administrator, Impression Management Specialist, Journalist, Media Consultant, Newscaster, Professor, Public Relations Representative, Publications, Radio Programmer, Sales Representative, Speech Writer, Teacher, Technical Writer, Television Producer, Trainer, Writer.

Two of the most concise definitions of economics are as follows: Economics is the study of production, consumption and allocation decisions under conditions of scarcity, or as the author of The Armchair Economist, Steven Landsburg, says, economics boils down to four words, “People respond to incentives.” Everything else is noise.

Economics is usually broken down into two sub-disciplines:

Macroeconomics looks at the performance of the economy as a whole. Many macroeconomic issues appear in the news daily. Economic students study topics such as economic growth; inflation; changes in employment and unemployment, our trade performance with other countries and the relative success or failure of government economic policies and the policies made by the Federal Reserve.

Microeconomics looks at economics at the level of individual consumers, groups of consumers, or firms. The general concern of microeconomics is the efficient allocation of scarce resources between alternative uses. Microeconomics looks at the determination of price through the optimizing behavior of consumers and firms; with consumers seeking to maximize happiness and firms, profit.

Geography provides insights about the earth as the human habitat. It is a way of looking at the earth, not an inventory of its contents. This viewpoint rests on fundamental interlocking concepts. The cultural appraisal of the earth, the regional concept, areal coherence, human ecology, spatial interaction, study of landscape, and the concept of change are all ways the geographer tries to better understand the environment.

History is the study of the past. It is by nature an extremely broad discipline that includes an analysis of individuals and groups, events and phenomena, long-term trends, short-term trends, institutions, societies and cultures. In fact, most historians use a variety of methodologies to create accounts and interpretations of virtually every subject imaginable, and often connect their studies to other fields both inside and outside of the social sciences. The value of studying history, of course, is that it helps us to understand who are today and where we came from. In addition, by studying we can develop an understanding of the human experience as lived by the various individuals and groups both inside and outside of our own societies.

The conventional definition of “philosophy” is the love of wisdom. However, “wisdom” is a difficult term to define because one may not know what constitutes wisdom and whose wisdom we are talking about. Wisdom is found in every culture and no single culture can claim to possess the ultimate answer and knowledge. In the past, philosophers were considered to be the know it all people. In the West, at one time, philosophy was even considered as the grand syntheses of all knowledge.

However, philosophy is not a stagnant body of knowledge. Rather, philosophical knowledge is a continuous, on going reflective process. Philosophy should be best understood as an intellectual and mental activity. It allows one to activate and stimulate one’s mind to reflect, critically assess and evaluate all human experiences and interests. As such, philosophy can provide one with no definitive answer on any one aspect of human knowledge. What is deemed to be an accepted truth at one time may help one to understand the world by whatever its merits at that particular historical juncture. But one must refrain from blindly accepting that as an absolute truth and end of all human inquiry. This paradoxical nature of philosophy, however, can emancipate one from tyrannical beliefs and dogmas and enable one to continue questioning the fundamental assumptions in all human knowledge. The study of philosophy, therefore, is twofold. On the one hand, it helps one to know and understand the remarkable accumulation of philosophical reflections of all civilizations. On the other hand, philosophy expands our perspectives, influences conduct, and explore, various theories concerning knowledge, values and the nature of reality. It provides fresh approaches to evaluate and critique diverse established theories. It facilitates and nurtures the desire for a continuous intellectual curiosity and enables the pursuit and entertains whatever other possible alternatives there yet may be.

Are you interested in American politics; international affairs; critical issues such as health, the environment, civil rights; theories concerning the ideal government and how power and resources are allocated in society? Do you want to study these subjects and pursue a career based on your interest? If so, you should consider studying political science.

Political science students can gain a versatile set of skills that can be applied in a wide range of exciting careers in federal, state and local governments; law; business; international organizations; nonprofit associations and organizations; campaign management and polling; journalism; precollegiate education; electoral politics; research and university and college teaching.

Psychology is the science concerned with behavior, both human and nonhuman—animal, and is only about 125 years old. It is a broad discipline, essentially spanning subject matter from biology to sociology. Psychology studies the intersection of two critical relationships: one between brain function and behavior, and one between the environment and behavior. As a science, psychology follows scientific methods, using careful observation, experimentation, and analysis.

Psychology is the study of mental processes, cognition, and behavior. Psychologist are concerned with how the brain and nervous system function, how perception evolves from sensation, how we learn and know, and what it is that motivates us. Psychology covers the total life span to learn more about how individuals function in family, community, and society. Psychologists want to learn what can go wrong in development, how it can be changed, and how to resolve organizational, personal, interpersonal, and family conflict. It is a dynamic field in which new knowledge leads to new understandings that grow out of a base in research. It is both a theoretical and applied science.

Sociology is the systematic study of people and their institutions. It is one of the most broad and diverse social science disciplines in academia whereby virtually every social domain is critically examined and analyzed. Sociologists study marriage and romantic relationships, interpersonal communication, social psychology, poverty and inequality, race and ethnicity, religion, culture, aging, the media, sports, health care, crime and deviance, nationalism, social movements, and globalization just to name a few topics.

To help sociologists make sense of the social world, sociologists deploy an array of theories and research methods collecting and analyzing data from participant observations, group interviews, surveys, historical documents, and even laboratory experiments. In the end, sociology is a discipline that attempts to move us beyond common everyday understandings of reality and illuminate how people and their institutions shape, and are shaped by, social mechanisms and processes.